A cunning combination of caution and blame-by-association has driven the New Year onslaught. From my latest for Comment Is Free:

Sixteen months are yet to pass before Londoners decide whether to boot Boris Johnson out of City Hall and give Livingstone the third term that would seal an astounding political comeback. But Team Livingstone is already knocking on the capital's doors. It knows what it is doing. Among the many things – most of them policies – Johnson has inherited from his predecessor is a grasp of the need to appear independent from your party, especially when it is unpopular. Hence, Johnson's loud insistence since May that he would defend London's interests Stalingrad-style against cuts. Hence, Livingstone's charge that he has failed and, in his ideological heart, never really wanted to succeed. He is determined to pin the bad news of a blue rosette upon The Blond.